[Disclaimer]: Sincere apologies from Offbeat China for not having done more research and failing to point out that it was unverified information. At the time of this post, the ‘official’ reason was universally cited as from an official from SARFT (e.g., Tianya, Xinmin and a number of other more reliable news media who subsequently deleted their posts). Remembering seeing the quote from some pretty serous news source but failing to track down the original source, Offbeat China left the “fear of touch” quote as is. Until recently, it was verified that the quote was Chinese netizens making fun of SARFT. 豆瓣逗你妹, who originally wrote the joke, had a long post explaining how his “joke” evolved into a piece of “news”. Offbeat China translated the post into English here, together with how Offbeat China “contributed” to the spreading of the fake news.

What is the biggest difference between Titanic 1997 and Titanic 2012 except for the 3D part? Well…in China, while Jack was able to draw a portrait of Rose’s naked body in 1997, he will only end up with a neck-and-above close-up in 2012. China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television decided to censor out painting scenes that reveal Rose’s naked body, probably the most remembered scenes when people in China watched the movie 15 years ago. The rationale?

“Considering the vivid 3D effects, we fear that viewers may reach out their hands for a touch and thus interrupt other people’s viewing. To avoid potential conflicts between viewers and out of consideration of building a harmonious ethical social environment, we’ve decided to cut off the nudity scenes,” according to an official at the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

Without doubt, people respond to the decision with anger and ridicule. As one netizen summarized, “15 years ago in Titanic, we got to see the nudity scenes. 15 years later in Titanic 3D, the scenes are censored out. This shows exactly how many steps forward we’ve made in terms of technology and how many steps backward we’ve made in terms of freedom.”

Some even made fun of themselves by saying, “I waited 15 years to see 3D boobs, not 3D iceberg.” Some are simply grossed out by the decision. “Such a beautiful scene. The heads of these officials must be full of dirty shit,” commented 情亲轻晴. 姜米子 asked, “Does it mean that when reviewing the movie, those officials at SARFT have already touched…whatever they wanted to touch and thus the fear of us doing the same?”

Many of China’s government organs have occasionally released some out-of-nowhere new regulations or policies, but SARFT surely scores #1 in terms of dumb-ass decisions.

[...] censors feared that Chinese men might reach out their hands and disturb viewers in front of them. Here’s the report from Offbeat China, and the message they translated: “Considering the vivid 3D effects, we fear that viewers may reach out their hands for a touch [...]

[...] looked like an central matter quoted in a journal article. The Offbeat China blog offering this English translation: “Considering a clear 3-D effects, we fear that viewers might strech out their hands for a [...]

[...] April 9, Offbeat China wrote a blog entry titled “3D Titanic suggests stricter censorship, No 3D boobs for Chinese viewers”. A quote in the post on why China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television made [...]

[...] It looks like Chinese schools don’t teach the adage “Look, but don’t touch”: Nude scenes of Kate Winslet posing for a drawing in Titanic 3D have been banned in Chinese theaters for fear that moviegoers will reach out with their hands in attempts to touch certain body parts prominently displayed onscreen, according to Chinese website Offbeat China. [...]

[...] It looks like Chinese schools don’t teach the adage “Look, but don’t touch”: Nude scenes of Kate Winslet posing for a drawing in Titanic 3D have been banned in Chinese theaters for fear that moviegoers will reach out with their hands in attempts to touch certain body parts prominently displayed onscreen, according to Chinese website Offbeat China. [...]

[...] It looks like Chinese schools don’t teach the adage “Look, but don’t touch”: Nude scenes of Kate Winslet posing for a drawing in Titanic 3D have been banned in Chinese theaters for fear that moviegoers will reach out with their hands in attempts to touch certain body parts prominently displayed onscreen, according to Chinese website Offbeat China. [...]

Can I ask, what time zone are you in? Trying to figure something out for attribution re: this post vs. Ministry of Tofu’s on the same subject. The 9:57 pm doesn’t seem to be Beijing time. Is it backdated from 11 hours ago?